This invention relates to a flexible disk device for operatively dealing with a flexible or floppy disk.
Flexible disks are for use in a data processing device, which may herein be an office computer, a personal computer, a word processor, or a like device. Each flexible disk has a pair of principal surfaces. Each principal surface is used in retrievably storing data. A flexible disk, usually about 20 cm in diameter, is capable of memorizing the data up to one megabits.
As will later be described in detail with reference to a few of about ten figures of the accompanying drawing, a flexible disk device comprises a holding assembly for releasably holding a flexible disk in position, a handle or door member manually operable to make the holding assembly hold and release the disk, a carriage controllably movable along a radius of the disk held in position, a pair of magnetic heads in alignment with each other and adjacent to the respective principal surfaces of the held disk, a pair of head holders for uniting the heads to the carriage, and a mechanism for moving or driving the heads selectively nearer to and farther from each other to couple and decouple the heads relative to the held disk. The handle member is normally put in a rest position of making the holding assembly hold a flexible disk in position. When operated to an actuated position, the handle member makes the holding assembly release the disk. The holding assembly is furthermore for rotating the thereby held disk on a disk axis so that the heads, when coupled to the disk, may run along a pair of tracks on the respective principal surfaces.
On dealing with the data, namely, on writing new data along a track on a selected one of the principal surfaces of a flexible disk, retrieving the memorized data, or rewriting such data, the disk under consideration is put into the flexible disk device to be held in position by the holding asembly. The carriage is controlled to place the heads in alignment with the track in question. The mechanism is put into operation to couple the heads to the respective principal surfaces. When thus coupled to the disk, the heads are ordinarily brought into contact with the respective principal surfaces. In other words, the disk is loaded with the heads.
In a conventional flexible disk device, a complicated mechanism is indispensable in order to simultaneously couple the magnetic heads to the respective principal surfaces of a flexible disk held in position and to simultaneously decouple the heads from the disk. When driven towards the respective principal surfaces, the heads are inevitably accelerated. It has therefore been mandatory that the mechanism is made to comprise dampers for reducing the impact of collision of the respective heads to the disk. The mechanism is thereby rendered much complicated and accordingly expensive. Moreover, it has been time consuming on manufacturing such flexible disk devices to adjust the mechanism for simultaneous drive of the heads.
It may nevertheless happen that the handle member is inadvertently actuated from the rest position towards the actuated position during the time that the magnetic heads are coupled to a flexible disk held in position. The holding assembly tends to release the disk even when the assembly is still rotating the disk on the disk axis. It results under the circumstances that a damage is caused to the disk and to the heads.